Mr. Niall Stokes:

I thank the committee for the invitation to speak at today's meeting. Hot Presswas launched in 1977 which means that we have been observing the changes that have taken place in the whole creative space in Ireland over the intervening 38 years. One of the most striking aspects of our collective experience during that period has been to understand that Ireland’s artistic and cultural industries make a major contribution to the economic well-being of the country. The existence of the Arts Council is a body fit for purpose, notwithstanding, but historically, what was not reflected in public policy was the extent to which Ireland's cultural industries made that vital economic contribution. This has expanded and developed over the intervening years.

Ireland’s success in international and contemporary music was achieved with little or no input from the State. However, experience with film confirms that effective public policy-making can have a very important beneficial impact on the activities of practitioners in a given cultural space. In 1993, a series of very important changes were put in place by legislation. A requirement was imposed on RTE to fulfil a quota of independent productions. At the time RTE did not want this and it resisted it. There was significant misgiving within RTE about the effect of this requirement. Yet, it became one of the foundation stones of the change and improvement in the development of a film industry in Ireland. Also at that time the Irish Film Board was reconstituted. It has gone on to play a very important role in dealing with content issues by encouraging Irish film-makers to develop their art and their craft, by funding Irish movies and generally opening up the space for activities in the world of Irish cinema based in Ireland. The amendment of section 481 to introduce competitive tax incentives has proven to be a very important factor in attracting international productions to Ireland.

Those are the foundation stones for the modern Irish film industry. The numbers employed in the film industry have multiplied almost ten times in the meantime. Ireland is producing films of genuine international calibre, made by Irish directors and featuring Irish talent. The direct value of the industry to the Irish economy has significantly increased as a result.

The benefits are also felt in tourism, in industry generally and especially in foreign direct investment. The success of Irish music artists has been instrumental in making Ireland feel, look and smell like a very good place for people in the creative and technical industries to do business. If one thinks about the success of U2 and what it has meant to the Irish economy, one can count the benefits in billions of euro. They have been significant in attracting companies such as Facebook, Google and other multinationals to Ireland, based on an awareness that there is a real creative community, where one can sell the idea of Ireland as a hub for different forms of creative endeavour. In the music arena, one does not just have U2 but also Enya, the Cranberries, Bill Whelan's music for Riverdance and so on up to Hozier, who in the past year has become one of the breakthrough artists, selling a huge number of records, generating a phenomenal number of YouTube views and playing on all of the major shows in the States, the UK and elsewhere. This was inspired by a song "Take Me to Church" and a video made for €1,500 by a bunch of very good young Irish film makers. Hozier has gone on to major international success.

It is important for us to encourage the cross-fertilisation involved in the creative space. The remit of the Irish Film Board and Mr. James Hickey will talk about this in far greater detail and with a greater degree of knowledge than I can. The crucial elements are the development of Irish film making and also the making of films in Ireland, which are the two cornerstones of the remit. I was surprised when reading the Creative Capital report, a product of the interaction between various Departments and many of the agencies involved in the creative space, how little space was devoted to film studios. It occurred to me that when it comes to attracting international productions to Ireland - we all know about the success of series such as the "Vikings", "Penny Dreadful" or "Games of Thrones", which is being filmed in Northern Ireland - they generate a significant level of highly intensive activity as well as significant levels of employment and knock-on benefits for the economies of particular local areas. It seemed to me that the document Creative Capital missed that dimension. It dealt with the important issue of incentives. As we have seen in the past year, the refinement of section 481 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 has actually worked.

There is a general feeling within the business that more studio space is needed to cater for the demand for making films in Ireland. The euro has been effectively devalued, making us even more competitive in that the American dollar and the pound sterling buys more. The British studios are more expensive than those in Ireland. That is subject to certain caveats. The international environment for incentives is competitive. Everybody is looking to find the extra twist, whether it is Northern Ireland, Britain or further afield. New Zealand, Australia and other English-speaking territories all have regimes in place where they are determined to attract big productions. Hollywood accounts for of the order of 70% of the screen time in Europe, not to mind the rest of the world. It is a powerful force but at the same time it means that if we can attract American production companies to make movies and television series here, that is an important opportunity. The Pinewood studios in Wales were built by the Welsh Government on their behalf.

People are uncertain about the way in which the studios in Northern Ireland have been funded and set up, but generally speaking it is understood that extraordinary value is being given to production companies to produce films in Northern Ireland. The opportunity is there for us to compete but we have to make the correct decisions which will ensure that the demand created by section 481 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 can be met. That also requires competitive rates in the studio offer we have.

I see an opportunity for regional development. Let me give some examples. The mid-west may be a very good location in that aeroplanes come across the Atlantic and land in Shannon Airport, which opens up the possibility that Limerick could be a very good locus for an Irish studio operation. Mr. Joe O'Connell will sell members the vision of studios in Wicklow, and I will not argue with that point, but there is a very strong link involving production companies flying in from the US, landing in Shannon and being in the heart of Limerick very quickly, with all of the comforts and infrastructure of a city around them. This presents the opportunity for regional development.

We talk about the value of the film industry to Ireland and the numbers are impressive but it is fair to say the Deloitte report estimates a higher number of people are employed in music than is the case in the film industry. From memory, the Creative Capital document states there are about 6,000 people employed in film. It might be a little higher at this point but the Deloitte report states that 9,000 direct jobs have been created by the music industry in Ireland. If one adds the indirect jobs the number goes up to over 11,000. However, there is a brain drain. Some of the Irish artists who have been successful in recent years - I am thinking of the Script, the Coronas, Imelda May and others - are now living abroad. Why is this? First, there is virtually no support for Irish musicians in Ireland. There is no equivalent of section 481 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to encourage international production here. Given the fact that the scale of the music industry is at least comparable to the film industry, it is equally important that we put the kind of incentives in place which would encourage the creative people on the ground to maximise their potential and achieve success, both locally and internationally but also to encourage international production to be based in Ireland.

I believe there is scope for legislation and regulations similar to what happened in regard to the film industry in 1993. This would include the foundation of a body, which would be equivalent to the Irish Film Board; and a requirement on RTE and all radio stations, which would be similar to the introduction of the rules in regard to independent productions, that they would play a minimum percentage of Irish music during peak times. There is an issue under European legislation about this but it was dealt with back in 1997-98 and agreement was reached with Europe in respect of a formulation of how that might operate.

We need an incentive similar to section 481 for music producers to live and work in Ireland. The simplest way of doing that would be to extend the artists' exemption provision to producers and aim to have a clustering effect of producers working in Irish studios, using session musicians and networking with Irish songwriters. This has the potential to give an important boost to musicians in Ireland who are currently finding it much more difficult than years ago to earn a living.